1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates an earphone, which is to be fitted directly on an ear of a user for converting an electric signal outputted from an audio system into a sound signal so as to provide acoustic output, and especially to an earphone provided with a main body including a loudspeaker received therein and an ear hanger adapted to be mounted on the ear.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have conventionally been used various kinds of compact and lightweight earphones, which were suitably applicable to portable audio systems. A user often puts on such an earphone, while being in motion. It is therefore preferable to provide such an earphone with a structure for preventing the earphone from coming off an ear of the user. In view of these circumstances, there has generally been adopted a structure in which a main body including a loudspeaker received therein was provided with an ear hanger to be turned along the outer peripheral portion of the ear so as to be mounted thereon, thus providing a fitting condition in which the loudspeaker was placed at the entrance of an external auditory meatus of the ear. When the earphone having the above-described structure is used, the user puts on it, while making a proper positional adjustment so that the loudspeaker is fitly placed at the entrance of the external auditory meatus of the ear, thus providing a stable fitting condition even when the earphone is used for a long period of time.
In the above-mentioned conventional earphone, it is necessary to form the ear hanger of material having a relatively high hardness in order to maintain a stable fitting condition in use. The ear hanger is formed for example of plastic material having a relatively high hardness.
In the earphone provided with the ear hanger formed of the plastic material having such a relatively high hardness, the resultant relatively hard ear hanger comes into direct contact with the ear of the user in a wrap-around state. Consequently, the use of such an earphone for a long period of time may give the user an unpleasant feeling in his/her ear.
It is conceivable to form the ear hanger of the earphone of elastic material such as soft rubber in view of the above-mentioned problem. This may reduce an unpleasant feeling of the user in his/her ear, even when the earphone is used for a long period of time. Formation of the ear hanger of such elastic material may make it difficult to provide a stable fitting condition in use.
Thus, the conventional earphone involves the problems that there cannot be satisfied both the requirements of providing the stable fitting condition in use and of preventing an unpleasant feeling of the user in his/her ear, even in case where the earphone is used for a long period of time.
An object of the present invention, which was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, is therefore to provide an earphone, which permits to maintain a stable fitting condition in use and prevent an unpleasant feeling of a user in his/her ear, even in case where the earphone is used for a long period of time.
In order to attain the aforementioned object, the earphone of the present invention comprises:
a main body to be placed at an entrance of an external auditory meatus of an ear of a user, said main body including a loudspeaker received therein;
an ear hanger connected to said main body, said ear hanger being adapted to be mounted on said ear, said ear hanger having a curved shape,
wherein:
said ear hanger comprises a core and a sheathing member for surrounding at least part of said core so as to provide a dual structure, said core being formed of hard material and said sheathing member being formed of elastic material.
According to the features of the first aspect of the present invention, when the user puts on the earphone so that the loudspeaker received in the main body is placed at the entrance of the external auditory meatus of the user""s ear, the ear hanger is fitted to the outer peripheral portion of the ear in a wrap-around state. The ear hanger, which has the dual structure, provides the functions of holding securely the main body by means of the core formed of the hard material, on the one hand, and of bring the soft sheathing member formed of the elastic material into contact with the user""s ear, on the other hand. As a result, the core permits to maintain a stable fitting condition in use, on the one hand, and the existence of the sheathing member permits to prevent an unpleasant feeling of the user in his/her ear.
In the second aspect of the present invention, there may be adopted a structure in which said at least part of said core has a rectangular cross section having a long side and a short side, said short side being directed to said main body. According to such features of the second aspect of the present invention, such an arrangement of the core permits the core to be deformed easily and resiliently in the direction of the short side of the rectangular cross section thereof, i.e., along the plane extending in the short side direction of the rectangular cross section so that the position of the ear hanger relative to the main body can easily be adjusted in accordance with the shape of the user""s ear, on the one hand, and prevents the core from being deformed easily in the direction of the long side of the rectangular cross section thereof, i.e., along the other plane extending in the long side direction of the rectangular cross section so that the position of the ear hanger can be maintained appropriately without loosing on the other plane as mentioned above. It is therefore possible to give a user a comfortable feeling in use of the earphone.
In the third aspect of the present invention, said hard material may have a spring property. According to such a feature of the third aspect of the present invention, the fitting property of the ear hanger can remarkably be improved. In the fourth aspect of the present invention, such hard material may be one of resin material and metallic material.
In the fifth aspect of the present invention, said elastic material may be one of thermoplastic elastomer and rubber, which is thermally formable under pressure. According to such a feature of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the sheathing member provides a more comfortable feeling in use of the earphone. Formability of the sheathing member can also be improved.